Stargate: Return of the Ancients, Season 2, Ep 10
by Aer-ki Jyr
Summary: Episode, "Hubris" Pt. 1 Year: 2017
1. Chapter 1

The Jaffa walked up to Teal'c's command chair and knelt respectfully, drawing an eyebrow of disapproval from the First Prime. " _The ground assault stands ready, awaiting your order_."

" _And what of my previous order?_ "

The Jaffa looked up, a confused look on his face.

" _You are kneeling…again_."

" _Forgive me_ ," the Jaffa said, standing up in his gleaming red battle armor with only his hands and head exposed.

" _Forgiveness would not be necessary if you would simply remember_ ," Teal'c admonished, but he wasn't truly angry. It was simply a matter of breaking old habits.

The Jaffa nodded, but said nothing more.

" _Are the Chor'tek prepared?_ "

" _They and their pilots stand ready…_ "

" _But?_ "

" _There are concerns_."

Teal'c stood up, taking the two steps down from his elevated chair to stand eye to eye with the Jaffa who was 63 years old, but a novice within the army of Bra'tac…as far too many of those Teal'c commanded were.

" _If they feel they are incapable of commanding them, they should step down and allow another to take their place_."

" _I have been assured that they will serve ably_ ," the Jaffa testified with a bit of stiffness at the questioning of the pilots' honor. " _It is the craft they are concerned with_."

" _As was I until I gained a proper respect for the Chor'tek. Do not concern yourself with it further. If there are problems I will find new pilots. There are many eager for the honor of becoming a rider_ ," Teal'c emphasized, " _and I am sure I can find a few who understand that distinction_."

" _As you will._ "

" _Return to the hangar and inform the army that they will be needed shortly_ ," Teal'c said, clapping the Jaffa on the shoulder as he lowered his voice to a whisper. " _In the future, use the communication system unless the matter is grave and time is of no essence_."

" _Forgive me_ ," the Jaffa apologized again, bowing his head.

" _I do not need apologies, I need learning_ ," he said, giving him a dismissive glance.

The Jaffa left quickly, with the six bridge crew continuing with their monitoring tasks while the H'tel was in hyperspace, though one turned his head and gave Teal'c a questioning glance.

" _They are still very young_ ," the First Prime commented with dissatisfaction.

" _Indeed_ ," Rak'nor said, his forehead glowing with the red glyph that the Alterra knew as 'Es' but to all Jaffa was now known as the symbol of Bra'tac. All those warriors onboard the H'tel bore the same mark, with a proper Prim'tah within them that altered their vision to see the otherwise invisible emblem. " _But they are learning_."

Teal'c frowned, his much more ornate glyph marking him as First Prime moving slightly with the forehead contortion. " _Slowly_ ," he grumbled, staying on his feet and glancing at the holographic displays near his chair that indicating the remaining time in an obvious countdown that only had seconds remaining.

" _I have no doubt they will excel from the battle experience they are about to gain_."

" _One would hope_ ," Teal'c said noncommittally. " _Make sure our shields and full countermeasures are active the moment we exit hyperspace._ "

" _Do you expect them to be waiting for us?_ "

" _I expect them to be the devious foe we know them to be_ ," Teal'c said firmly, referring to the Aschen and their crusade for galactic domination. " _Be prepared for anything_."

" _As always_ ," Rak'nor said as the last few seconds before entering battle were silent on the otherwise calm bridge. The senior Jaffa on the vessel Teal'c had no concerns with, but the bulk of their army was comprised of recent converts. Prim'tah were not yet widely available and each individual had to beat out a large number of others to earn theirs, but old habits and stubbornness were lingering and the galaxy wasn't going to wait for Teal'c and Bra'tac to whip them into proper form before going into battle. These warriors had been deemed 'tolerable' and thus had been brought along, but it was uncertain how they would perform in a major assault.

The H'tel flashed out of hyperspace and into orbit around an enemy-held world. It wasn't their largest, nor their smallest, but one that had a significant defense force guarding an ever-expanding industrial base that was pumping out more of the Aschen Elementals that were their primary and most versatile weapon.

Alongside Teal'c's H'tel were two others, the three of which were carrying a ground army that would be landing to take this world as soon as the orbital defenses were eliminated.

" _We have been seen_ ," Rak'nor reported. " _Enemy Elementals are moving to intercept in medium-sized clusters._ "

" _Begin firing as soon as they come in range_ ," Teal'c said as he alternated his view between the wall-spanning visual display and the tactical hologram beside his chair that he was still standing in front of. " _Focus sensors on their ground defenses_."

" _Multiple defensive weapons detected, Master_ ," another Jaffa noted. " _We are currently out of range._ "

" _See to it that we remain beyond their range_ ," Teal'c ordered. " _We will deal with the Elementals first, then take out the ground-based weaponry_."

" _Objects launching from the planet!_ "

" _Show me_."

A side wall lit up as a secondary 'window' that zoomed in to show numerous missile plumes rising from the surface and heading towards the distant H'tel. " _They will reach us the same time as the Elementals?_ "

Rak'nor took a moment to have the ship's computer run the calculations. " _Yes, Master_."

Teal'c nodded. " _Launch Lok'na'te. Have them intercept the missiles while we engage the Elementals. Once completed they are to flee the engagement area. Make it clear they are not to fight the Elementals. I want no suicidal bravado today_."

" _I will make it clear to them_ ," another Jaffa promised.

" _Shift shields forward and ready all weapons for maximum firepower. Our first blow must be our strongest._ "

* * *

Sitting inside the small cockpit of the advanced fighter that had replaced the Death Glider for the new Jaffa order, Vek'sor got the launch order sooner than he expected. With it came a targeting solution that highlighted the incoming missiles rising through the atmosphere and gaining speed.

Pressing a single button the Jaffa activated the automated launch sequence that shot his craft out a short tunnel and into space, with him adding engine power immediately to bring his Lok'na'te around and join the other five fighters that were being dispatched with him. There were more onboard the First Prime's H'tel, but only these six had been selected.

Vek'sor saw that they didn't have much time, but fortunately his craft were incredibly fast. Powering down his weapons and most other systems, he put the Lok'na'te into pursuit mode and accelerated blindingly fast, angling down towards the atmosphere while the first flashes of weaponsfire lit up behind him as the three H'tel used the primary weapons at their peaks to attack the oncoming Elemental groups.

The Jaffa pilots couldn't watch that battle unfold, for they had a different mission. There were some 22 missiles coming their way, and each was bigger than their fighters. They were heavily shielded but had no defensive weapons, intended to ram into large vessels and detonate a mind-boggling warhead. These missiles had been seen before and targeting locations on them were highlighted by the battle computer, showing him where to shoot and where not to shoot in order to disable them without causing them to blow up in his face.

The lead pilot designated three of the targets to Vek'sor, who angled towards the first of them as the enemy weapons continued to spread out, making it more unlikely that they'd be shot down from concentrated firepower. The Jaffa was a veteran pilot in Death Gliders, but this was only the third combat mission he'd made in the Lok'na'te and he was still learning how to fight in the impressive craft. According to the computer holograms sitting directly in front of him, it was going to take multiple hits to take out these missiles, thus a firing pass would be insufficient.

Vek'sor came in at the missile from the side and accelerated hard as he fell behind, coming on a heading to match and catching up before switching out of pursuit mode and bringing his weapons online. Staying with the missile was impossible, for it was still too fast for him to match with his weapons activated and drawing power away from the engines, but the missile wasn't gaining too much distance on him and he had a window of opportunity to take it down.

Firing tiny globules of energy, he pounded into the left rear of the missile until the shields were breached, then the armor vaporized and he slid a few shots into the hull and trashed interior components, finding the missile's acceleration dropping off as it suddenly becoming a floating rock drifting towards the distant battlefield that was lighting up with multiple types of weaponsfire as the two sides came within slugging range.

Diverting to his second target, Vek'sor rushed off in pursuit mode once again to catch up and neutralize the second missile. He barely got to the third before the H'tel were growing too large before him, but the Jaffa succeeded in knocking its maneuvering ability out as the big Jaffa warships continued to adjust position to avoid the now drifting bombs.

Vek'sor swung his Lok'na'te aside as he got a warning from the flagship, noting three Elemental blocks heading his way with a flashing 'do not engage' icon on them. Seeing that there were no more missiles with maneuvering power left, he veered off and ran away with the other Jaffa pilots despite his urge to engage the enemy head on. If he did that the First Prime would remove his Prim'tah, for his orders were clear and Master Teal'c did not suffer disobedience in battle.

* * *

Teal'c watched as Elemental blocks blasted apart in front of him while groups of them fired linked beam blasts into his ships' shields, draining them of energy but not penetrating yet. There were more Elementals here than in their last scouting report, but not enough to be able to defeat them. The disabled missiles were another matter, so he ordered weaponsfire diverted from the primary engagement to target the missiles that were going to pass close to them, knowing that the Aschen could still detonate them remotely and do some damage.

The big particle beam on top of his ship, known as a Gra'zel, targeted and destroyed one of the missiles with a single precise hit now that they weren't flying evasively. A new star suddenly appeared for a moment as the warhead blew, but it was still too far away to do any damage. The big gun on the top of the H'tel continued firing, knocking out the missiles with single hits before they could get close enough to do any proximity damage.

"Hmph," Teal'c mumbled in satisfaction when they were all gone, as well as seeing that the Lok'na'te he had deployed had followed orders and got well clear of the blasts. Now all that was left was to defeat these Elementals and insure that none of them got away. To that end he diverted the current Lok'na'te around the perimeter into distant flanking positions while preparing to launch the others in pursuit if/when his H'tel were no longer surrounded by enemies.

If the Elementals didn't flee they would be destroyed before they could take out a single H'tel, but Teal'c knew that if they stayed his shields would go down and the armor would take hits. He didn't know if the Aschen would try to save some of their Elementals or run them off to use another day, but either way he was going to insure that they were all destroyed, after which they'd proceed to clear away the surface batteries and pave the way for the ground troops to take out the Aschen machines on the ground and hunt down the few personnel they had on the planet, wherever the cowards were hiding and controlling their forces from afar.


	2. Chapter 2

Jeroon had a neutral expression on his face as he studied the small icon that appeared on his control board, and the almost uninterested look didn't alter as he pulled up its contents and turned to face his Aschen leader.

"The planet of Shateen is reporting that it is under attack from a strong Jaffa force and are requesting any available reinforcements. We could be there in 22.4 hours if we divert now."

"No," Degon said almost casually. "Our mission takes precedence. No planet will be safe unless we decapitate this threat immediately. The Oracle has foretold of Asgard involvement in this war, thus we must act before that prophecy comes to bear. Fighting them and the Jaffa simultaneously is not a pathway to victory. Diverting to Shateen would waste time and resources when we have little to spare."

"Shall I send a response?"

"No. They will serve as a useful distraction if Jaffa forces are there and we want them behaving normally. Tell them they are to hold the Jaffa there as long as possible and the altered strategy might tip our hand. Send no response. Continue on course as planned."

Jeroon turned back to his console, seemingly unphased, and dismissed the alert.

* * *

The Jaffa army landed on the surface of the planet outside the Aschen cities via transport beam a few at a time, infantry assembling in groups that were supplemented by large metallic beasts standing four times the height of a Jaffa. They had four legs and a thick head, looking like cats, but they moved with a stiff grace, controlled by computerized movement but with a single pilot inside them controlling…or more accurately _guiding_ their movements.

Ponken sat within the Jaffa battlecat, telling it where to go and having it decide how best to get there. He directed it to lead the infantry as they began running in columns towards the city not too far ahead, from which there were already Aschen machines, both small and large, headed their way. The big turrets in the city were now smoking craters thanks to the H'tel high overhead and they were continuing to provide fire support with spurts of plasma here and there, but there were so many buildings that it would be impossible to clear them all from overhead. Troops were needed on the ground, and thus they were going in even before all the obvious targets were taken out from above.

Everything near to them was gone, but the Aschen had ways of hiding targets and surprising attackers so the Jaffa were approaching swiftly but cautiously, with Ponken using the sensors in his Chor'tek to search for traps and noticing several pop up before him, aligning in an arc that probably ringed the city.

He targeted the location and fired two globes of shining red plasma that hit the ground and did nothing more than blast apart an old stump and burn some grass. The weapons hidden below didn't respond, so he amped up his ride's shields and had it run up closer. The Chor'tek slowed on approach, irritating Ponken, but he had no ability to force it to go faster. The artificial intelligence walked the cat-like body up close to the location, then pounced forward and landed right on top of it.

The Jaffa cursed, but there was no effect. He repeated his target icon, wanting it to fire into the device buried below ground, but the Chor'tek only walked around for a moment, looking down at the spot, then the sensor package altered and instead of absorbing specific signals sent out and interpreting them to get a view of the object, it began emitting a false signature imitating lifesigns of the Jaffa infantry not far off.

Suddenly the ground erupted and the battlecat was thrown off its feet into the air in a huge surge of dirt. It fell on its side, its shields weakened near to the point of breaking, but no damage had occurred. On his display the sensors returned to normal, showing the region of buried mines with one less dot in their formation.

" _Stupid beast_ ," he said, knowing that it had taken out the weapon as ordered. He had it walk off a ways to let it recharge, then saw another come up and pounce on the nearest mine, seeing it detonate almost immediately and toss that Chor'tek up and into the air…then the metallic cat rolled over and got to its feet, having cleared a larger path for the infantry to approach on.

Ponken hated having to 'ride' these machines rather than pilot them, but they were getting the job done so he held any further complaints and let them do the task regardless of how stupid they looked in the process.

* * *

" _Master Teal'c, our forces are encountering additional resistance in the northern quadrant of the third city_."

" _Show me_."

An image from another H'tel zoomed in on the region, showing many of the large spheres ducking in and out from buildings and overhangs to confound the warships' gunners, but managing to move around enough to give the Jaffa troops all manner of trouble.

" _Reports indicate that there are lairs within that hold many enemy machines, but we cannot detect them from here_."

" _Cause?_ "

" _Unknown_."

" _Are the buildings blocking our sensors?_ "

" _Perhaps. I cannot say for sure_."

" _Then clear the area of our troops and level one until we find what is blocking them_."

" _The rubble may cover it_."

" _Fire on it until there is no rubble left_."

Rak'nor nodded. " _As you wish_."

Teal'c's H'tel repositioned until it was directly over the chosen location and combined its firepower with the closest other ship, dropping large plasma orbs along with smaller bursts into the structure, almost immediately collapsing the upper levels amidst a cloud of dust and debris, then those pieces were blasted apart even as they fell, grinding them down more and more as the clouds mushroomed across half the city blanketing the Jaffa fighting nearby, but Teal'c knew their armor gave them the ability to see through it sufficiently to avoid shooting one another and keep their focus on the Aschen machines.

" _No change_ ," Rak'nor reported.

" _Keep firing_ ," Teal'c insisted as he watched the sensors, which could see through the dust cloud easily. A hole in the city formed, being dug deeper and deeper even as more debris kept falling in around the sides only to get chewed up and stirred about by the repetitive blasts.

Minutes passed by, but other than blowing apart a lot of structures nothing changed.

" _Cease bombardment_ ," he finally relented. " _I'll deal with this personally_."

" _Yes, Master_ ," Rak'nor said without complaint.

Teal'c mentally activated his own armor, which he wore as a light vest plate over his tight Alterran-style Jaffa robes. The hard torso cast extended, suddenly covering his entire body save for his head in armor that was blood red, yet dull enough not to make him too obvious a target. The glowing symbol on his forehead could only be seen by his kin, but in a moment it disappeared as well when a solid helmet formed and encapsulated his head, far smaller than the old snake helmets of Apophis, but yet somehow even more intimidating in that there was no visor or eyes, just an impenetrable mass of technology that matched his stoic demeanor well.

He touched a few controls beside his command chair and selected a target on the surface, then a moment later he was surrounded in white light and the bridge disappeared…with him suddenly on the planet amongst the dust cloud and his Jaffa.

" _Master_ ," one of them said deferently as Teal'c wasted no time running through his troops and up to the front lines were weaponsfire was evident even within the dust clouds. He ducked to one side, passed under an archway on the street, and ran through a short alley as he signaled for six Jaffa nearby to follow.

" _We have a mystery to solve. Come with me_ ," he said as a weapon sprouted on his right forearm and he led his squad into a nearby building in search of a route below ground.

* * *

Several days later Teal'c returned to his H'tel, having located the jamming devices placed below ground the hard way…having to fight through wave after wave of Aschen floating drones to eliminate each of them, after which his ships could pummel an area and knock out the production facilities that were still making new enemy weapons even as the attack was ongoing.

There were still more locations to search and destroy, but it looked like the main areas of resistance had been decimated. Several booby-traps had severely injured his Jaffa, but thanks to the high quality of the armor they wore none were beyond saving…though a few had to be brought back to the ship in order to be revived, their bodies tore up but still complete enough to be restored to full health by the magic of the Alterran healing devices.

Teal'c took rest immediately, weary from so many days of fighting. The other Jaffa had been rotated out 10 hours previously, but he had persisted longer, as was appropriate of a First Prime, though he had left before he was truly spent rather than stubbornly staying until every last Aschen and their machines were destroyed.

He was not through 3 hours of meditation before the communications system aroused him. It was configured not to do so unless something urgent occurred, so even before he heard Rak'nor's voice he knew something was wrong.

" _Master, apologies for the interruption, but we've received a message from Dakara. They are under attack._ "

Teal'c was visibly startled. " _The Aschen or another foe?_ "

" _The Aschen. Bra'tac summons our return at all speed_."

" _Then do so and waste no further time speaking with me_."

" _What of the troops on the ground?_ "

" _Emergency retrieval. Jump to hyperspace immediately upon their full return_."

" _May I destroy a few more buildings while we wait?_ "

" _Do as much damage as you can, but do not hesitate a moment longer than necessary_."

" _Understood_ ," Rak'nor said as his voice disappeared simultaneously with Teal'c's body rushing out of his personal chambers.

* * *

It took days to return to Dakara, but when they emerged from hyperspace they saw that the battle was not resolved. Masses of Aschen Elementals, both in individual form and joined groups, infested orbit. There were no H'tel there, but Teal'c noted that there were four on the surface of the planet, taking refuge beneath larger shields as there was an apparent stalemate. The Aschen were beyond bombardment range, and likewise were out of danger from surface-based weaponry that would shred Elementals far faster than anything the H'tel carried.

But there was activity on the ground…four massive battlefronts beyond the Jaffa cities where the Aschen had boldly landed ground troops. With them were also Elementals, apparently guarding their landing area, and swaths of such dead ships surrounding the landing zone, attesting to the price they had paid to get their troops to ground.

" _What are your orders, Master?_ "

" _Hold beyond weapons range and contact Bra'tac_."

A moment later a hologram of the System Lord appeared, the look on his face grim but grateful.

" _Thank you for returning, Teal'c. As you can see, we are besieged_."

" _How are we faring on the ground?_ "

" _Poorly, but that will change if the enemy manages to push closer to our city defenses. At the moment I am stalling them._ "

Teal'c nodded. Now that he had three more H'tel in play the odds had changed, though there were so many Elementals here that he wasn't sure how effective they'd be, but he was certain that Bra'tac had a plan of attack.

" _How shall we engage them?_ "

" _We will not_ ," Bra'tac said firmly. " _Do not let the enemy engage you, even if you have to leave this world. Also do not attempt to land on Dakara. They are seeking engagement to their advantage, do not give it to him._ "

" _I understand_ ," Teal'c said, noticing that there was some small movement in the orbital formations that had some Elementals being dispatched towards them. With a glance he had Rak'nor's attention on the matter as he continued to address Bra'tac. " _How may we be of use?_ "

" _Time_ ," the Alterra insisted. " _Time is what we need, my friend_."


	3. Chapter 3

"We lost another one?" Carter asked, cringing.

"Afraid so," Cam confirmed, leaning back in his chair as he sat down, just having got back to Springfield from an offworld assignment. "We managed to evacuate most of our people, but had to fight our asses off to hold long enough to do it."

"What'd they hit you with?" Jack asked, sitting next to Carter and two other Generals, making him the lowest ranking officer in the briefing room.

"What didn't they hit us with?" Mitchell complained. "They had enough legos to keep us tied up in orbit while they got a troop transport to the surface. We held the gate the entire time, but those damn Kenobi spheres of theirs are too tough to take down in the groups. We lost every tank we had in a forced withdrawal."

"Aircraft?" Jack wondered.

"They didn't bother sending down any ships, so we got a few good strafing runs until they started overlapping ground fire. We had to switch to less obvious approaches and managed to take out a few of their big ones…but it wasn't enough. Honestly, they just flat ran over us."

"I'm glad you got out when you did," Carter said gratefully. "The people mattered more than the equipment."

"I know," Cam said, hanging his head in a mixture of frustration and fatigue, "but we can't keep taking losses like this. I don't know why they haven't hit us here yet. There's not much we can do to stop them."

Carter nodded. "At least the Jaffa seem to be keeping the bulk of their attention for the moment."

"We're getting the JV team?" Jack asked.

"Scary as that sounds, I think so."

"What can we do differently than we are doing now?" General Oberdine asked, looking at the Five Star General.

Carter slowly shook her head. "I'm not sure. We can beat them if we have the equipment…or at least hold our own turf."

"But we don't have the equipment," Jack pointed out.

"And we just lost more of it," Cam added. "Every time we start to make a little headway on that front we get hit again."

"I still don't see how they're finding us," Carter said, thoroughly annoyed. "There were no random gate activations prior to the assault, correct?"

"Nothing that I was made aware of," Cam hesitated.

"It is standard practice to freak out when that happens now, right?" Jack noted.

"Yeah, so I doubt they found us that way," Cam agreed.

"I double checked our shipping logs," Carter continued. "There have been no Aschen sightings suggesting that they could have followed us to Gondor."

"We must have a leak then," General Thompson insisted.

"A leak where?" Jack asked.

"Earth," he said bluntly.

Cam and Jack exchanged glances, then both look at Carter.

"I don't know," she said honestly. "I've been looking into every technological angle I can and I can't find anything. Though it's possible the Aschen have reconnaissance assets that have some sort of stealth capability that we can't detect."

"Sam," Jack said, giving her a look.

Her shoulders slumped. "Yeah, I know."

"Know what?" General Oberdine asked with a frown.

"Our test site hasn't been hit yet," Jack offered.

"What site?"

"Something I haven't told anyone about," Sam explained, then added with a stern look. "And it will remain confidential."

"Yes, General," Oberdine agreed, with Thompson also giving a nod.

"We've built a small expansion base on the gate network without using spacecraft. Its gate-only access and none of the supplies are sent from here. They all go through intermediaries so there are no logs of its location in our database. Subsequently, there are no copies or notations made of its existence that get sent back to Earth. We're trying to discover if there is a leak, and to do that we need comparison data."

"What sort of base is this?"

"Industrial."

"Staffed by whom?"

"A small collection of individuals reassigned from other locations. Officially they're where they're supposed to be, but have been personally relocated and the site logs altered to cover their absences. Only 14 individuals know the gate address."

"You're trying to determine if our ships are being tracked?"

Carter nodded. "Or if there's a leak and our maps are getting out to the Aschen. But more importantly, we need secure locations to build up our off Earth industry, and putting everything here and at Reach is too risky. We're going to get hit sooner or later, no matter how much we bulk up the defenses. If we lose Springfield we can't let it become a deathblow to our operations."

"Yet the Aschen have been picking apart our startups," Thompson noted with a nod.

"Unfortunately yes," Carter agreed. "It's almost as if they're toying with us."

"Why not Earth?" Jack asked suddenly.

"They did hit Earth," Cam said, frowning.

"Why haven't they tried again with their big fleets?"

"We had help," Carter said, thinking.

"Maybe they're afraid of that help," Jack said, raising his eyebrows.

"You think they're worried about the Alterra?" Cam asked.

"If they're playing with us, then there's got to be a reason. These guys have no sense of humor. None. It's all painstakingly evil bureaucracy."

"If you say so," Cam said, deferring to his elders. "Before my time."

"Come to think of it, you're right," Carter said thoughtfully. "They've been hitting us hard, but it's more like they're keeping us from growing than trying to take us out…at least after that first try with the bioweapon attack."

"I think they're more concerned with the Jaffa right now," Oberdine speculated.

"So why attack us at all?" Jack scoffed.

"They're trying to slow us down. And they're not going to hit Earth again until they're sure they can win. They don't know that the Alterra are in another galaxy."

"Uh, hang on sec…" Cam said, raising a hand in the air and pointing towards Carter. "The Jaffa are now Alterra-ish. Why aren't they worried about them interfering there? Or have they already?"

"Good question. I don't know. There are no reports of the columnars being seen in this galaxy recently. Last we heard from Bra'tac they were busy fighting the Wraith, so maybe the Aschen haven't seen them and are worried when they'll show up again."

"Lucky break for us," Jack added.

Carter agreed with a nod. "But the Aschen are still probing us, maybe looking for a response?"

"Trying to draw the Alterra out without a huge commitment of resources," Cam guessed.

"Possible. If that worry is buying us some time we need to figure out how to use it."

"The Aschen seemed determined to make sure that doesn't happen," Oberdine argued.

"How bad are our frenemies getting hit?" Jack asked.

"They haven't been inclined to share that information," Sam said with obvious sarcasm, referring to the other nations of Earth and their growing interstellar territories.

"I don't suppose we could ask the Alterra if they could build us some drones?" Cam wondered, his frustration showing in his voice.

"Other than Bra'tac, I have no way of communicating with them as it is," Sam said apologetically. "But I doubt they'll be handing those out freely."

"Shotgun," Jack suggested, getting confused looks from everyone at the table. "If we can't put everything here for fear of it being blown up in one big ass attack, then we spread everything out into tiny bases. Lots of tiny bases."

"What's lots?" Cam asked.

"Hundreds. Including worlds that are barely livable. No heavy defenses, just enough to hold out long enough to evacuate if need be, and we put everything else into building the factories we need to give us the toys to really fight these bastards."

"Will that work?" Oberdine asked Carter.

"I don't know," she said, thinking as her eyes glanced down at the table.

"Cells," Cam said, the first gleam in his eyes since returning from battle. "With no knowledge of each other."

"Resistance cells," Carter said, looking at him. "Good idea, actually."

Jack looked between the two of them. "What great idea did I come up with this time?"

"Our potential security leak," Cam offered.

"And if we space them really far away across the galaxy," Carter added, "then the Aschen can't get to them all by ship. At least not very fast."

"We can use the fleet to ship resources to certain worlds," Thompson added, "and from there the cells can be reached via stargate, with the addresses only known to a handful of individuals that will be the first to evacuate if attacked."

"We can add a circuit," Carter amended. "Input worlds and output worlds. That way if a distribution base gets hit, we won't have the cells dialing in afterwards and exposing themselves. We'll have another set of receiver bases that will connect back to here. Those addresses will show in the receiving logs, but the cells won't."

"And those bases won't have logs?" Cam asked.

"No, they won't," Carter said, finally feeling that they were putting a valid plan into play.

"Great plan. Glad I thought of it," Jack said sarcastically. "But to pull this off we're going to need a lot of people we can trust personally. Cells don't work with strangers, not in this case. The Aschen can know who they are if they want. It's the gate addresses they can't get. We have to be able to trust people with those addresses and command of those bases and do it off the books, and while I'm all about making friends, I don't have 100 or so I can call up and ask to volunteer."

"The Colonel is right," Carter agreed. "We have to do this old school. The possibility of an Aschen data hack is too high, no matter where the source may be. If we keep this out of our computers then there's no way it can filter back to Earth or anywhere else the leak might be. And if we only use stargates to access the cells, then there's no chance of convoys being tracked to them."

"What if," Cam asked, "the Aschen take one of the distribution worlds and tear apart the DHD to find the recent addresses?"

Carter softly bit her lip. "I suppose we can design a program that automatically wipes the dialing history after every connection. Ancient tech is remarkably redundant, so it's not something we can just whip up in a jiffy, but I think I can eventually come up with something to cover our tracks there."

"How much shipping can we manage through the gates," Thompson asked, "tonnage wise?"

Carter cringed. "We can't ship anything really big through, like starship ribs, but if we work it right we can have the cells building small stuff on their own and components of the bigger items that can be assembled here or another site. It'll be a logistical challenge, but it's doable."

"Tanks?" Cam asked.

"If we make them small enough to fit them through the gate we can build them at the cells."

"How long will this take to set up?" Oberdine asked.

"Years," Carter said with a frown. "But I don't see that we have any better options."

"And what do we do in the meantime?"

Cam leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and staring everyone in the eye in turn. "We hold out and play for time. If the Aschen are doing the same thing, we can make this work."

"But," Jack added. "It has to be off the books. Totally. Even the President can't know."

Carter seemed to balk at that and Jack stared her down. "You know it's the only way."

"Yeah, I know," she relented. "If we survive this war I'm totally going to get fired."

" _If_ ," Cam emphasized. "And right now that's looking like a very big if."


	4. Chapter 4

Offworld Secretary Allard walked into the large gateroom in Egypt along with a phalanx of assistants and a pair of plainclothes guards in the lot. While this was an international facility, absent the United States participation, the varying delegates did not fully trust one another, hence the touch of quiet security that the British official required as he was transitioning to one of the United Kingdom's offworld bases.

This was to be his third trip, unfortunately having to oversee personnel matters in the flesh given the fact that one of their 6 primary colonies had been attacked by the Aschen with nearly the loss of all inhabitants. Some 1,283 had been evacuated through the stargate before an Aschen anti-personnel drone came through along with them and the connection had to be cut, stranding who knew how many behind to their capture or deaths.

With the British government adamant that their offworld investments be better managed, Allard had volunteered to go in person to rectify the situation. He wasn't foolish enough to go to a planet he expected to get hit, but he was getting away from the bureaucracy of Earth where he would have less oversight to daily activities.

The control staff dialed the gate with a large display panel above it indicating the destination. It stated that the planet's name was Wellington and that it was a possession of the United Kingdom, assuring those about to step through as to where they were going. With the iris already having been retracted, the Secretary and his posse walked up to the gleaming puddle and stepped through…arriving at another planet within a handful of seconds.

The Secretary stepped out unphased, but his staff staggered around clearly in awe of the unbelievable trip they'd just taken, for none of these had ever set foot through a stargate before.

"Welcome to Wellington, Secretary Allard," a civilian greeted them inside an artificial chamber that was far too utilitarian for his tastes, as would the rest of the colony be.

"Is the _Acheron_ still in orbit?" he asked.

"It is, along with the rest of our defense fleet."

Allard resisted the urge to frown, for that 'fleet' consisted of only 3 warships at Wellington and 8 in total. "I need transported to her immediately along with my staff."

"May I ask where you are going?"

"Somewhere classified and off the gate network," he said ambiguously, then remained silent as he waited for her to carry out his order. After an awkward moment the civilian made the necessary contacts and within minutes Allard and his people were beamed into orbit.

* * *

Lieutenant Commander Beckham was walking through the corridors of the small, _Valor_ -class British warship when there was an explosion that knocked her into the sidewall then bounced her across to the other. Her head got bashed and bloodied on the left side, leaving her on her knees and trying to focus as smaller secondary explosions rippled through the ship. At first she thought they were under attack, but as far as she knew they were still in hyperspace and there were no battle alarms…but as her head began to stop swimming she realized what had happened. It was those damn IOA upgrades!

The _Acheron_ was built by the British, and proudly so, instead of utilizing IOA warship construction which they could have purchased in one form or another for an outrageous sum of money. But the technology the British had was largely dependent on the information flowing from the IOA, and the bean counters had insisted on buying select superior components from them to incorporate into the British hull. Problem was, not all of those systems played nice with one another and the _Acheron_ had been experiencing problems ever since her launch three years ago.

A lump of updated machinery had been installed in the past two weeks and the Chief Petty Officer had told her that they were incompatible with existing systems. She'd told him what the Captain told her… _to make it work_ , but he hadn't seemed confident that that was possible, stating that the software incompatibility glitches could threaten critical systems.

She wasn't sure what had just exploded, but the lack of follow-up damage or hull decompression suggested this wasn't an attack.

Another sailor reached down and offered her a steadying hand as she got to her feet, knowing she needed to head to the bridge. She got through two hallways and three turns until she came upon a gaggle of people blocking her path.

"Make way!" she demanded, then saw with horror that there were three mangled bodies on the floor next to a section of wall that was flayed into sharp daggers of shrapnel sticking out 6-12 inches around the holes that had been blown through it…and the bodies on the floor were not in uniform.

"The Secretary?" she asked, knowing it was true despite the gruesome wounds that had ripped off a good portion of the man's face.

"Commander…look…" a sailor said in a horrified and outright scared voice as he pointed a shaking finger at the open wound on the man's head.

"What are you pointing at specifically?" she asked in as much tenderness as her mood and bloody head could manage as another sailor walked up to her and began bandaging the dark red spot on her head that was soaking through her hair.

"Look," the sailor insisted. "Inside."

She didn't want to stare at the gore that was the man's body, nor look at the other bodies longer than necessary, but the other sailors standing around had identical horrified expressions on their faces. The Lieutenant Commander knelt closer, making sure not to touch any of the mangled bodies, and looked into the crater in the dead man's head.

There was a small twitching motion, which drew her attention to a slightly exposed bit of tissue that wasn't brain…and it was round and grey where the rim of the bloody stump had wiggled loose a centimeter.

Beckham sucked in an involuntary breath, unable to speak. She couldn't be seeing this. It had to be her imagination…or the mangled nature of the body…or maybe she had a concussion.

"Is that what it looks like?" one of the sailors said, staring directly at her.

"I…I…don't know."

"What do you mean what does it look like?" someone else asked, with a lot of looks from people thinking the same thing. They knew it was something unusual, but they didn't understand the gravity of the situation.

A few others did, she could tell, for they were staring at her with grim, betrayed faces and waiting for her reaction while everyone else was staring at the corpses or rushing down the cramped corridors attending to their duty in the wake of the explosion.

When the sailor got the temporary bandage wrapped around her head to stem the bleeding she waved off any further assistance and knelt down very close to the body, cringing at the gore and still seeping blood, from both the man's head and the twitching tube sticking out of it ever so slightly. If it hadn't been moving like that no one would probably have noticed, and even when the bodies were recovered they might have just zipped them up in body bags and carried them off, not worried about cause of death examinations.

Beckham stared at the cleaved head and the involuntary death twitch of the parasite that had been living inside him as it slowly wiggled its way further out a hair at a time.

"Everyone stand back," she said, almost in a whisper too soft to hear over the other noise as she was rapidly thinking through the ramifications of this. The Secretary of Offworld affairs, one of the most senior cabinet positions within the government…

"I need a camera, a guard detail, and a doctor here ten seconds ago!"

The sailors stiffened, then half of them broke up and ran off, ostensibly to carry out her orders.

"Keep your distance," she said, taking a step back yourself. "I _think_ it's dead."

"Think what is dead?" a sailor asked. "What is that thing?"

"An alien," she said firmly.

"The Secretary was an alien?"

"You don't know what a Goa'uld is, do you?"

"I do," one of the sailors said.

His comrade looked at him with a confused expression. "You never said anything about aliens here!"

"It was classified at the time," he barked, not caring about who told who what as he looked at the Lieutenant Commander. "There may be more of them in his staff…or anywhere else on this bloody ship! Even in you."

She nodded. "We have to scan the crew immediately."

"Scan for what!" someone else yelled, drawing a severe look from the Lieutenant Commander.

"We've been compromised by aliens," she said firmly, still not letting herself succumb to panic at how widespread this could possibly be. "When the Captain is done dealing with the explosion I'll inform him, but for right now this body does not get moved and no one touches it. Am I clear?"

"Crystal, Commander," the veteran said, looking to the others nearby to reinforce that order.

"Get a firearm and shoot that thing if it slides out of his head," she said as another sailor came running up to her and handed over a small cell phone. She took it and switched it to camera mode, then began taking pictures of the scene and of the Goa'uld parasite within the Secretary's head.

* * *

"We've finished with the crew," the fleet doctor informed both the Captain and the Lieutenant Commander as they were standing outside the infirmary that had been closed off with a ring of security guards. "I am positive that no other aliens are present within their bodies."

Captain Blair nodded. "Good. But what about somewhere else on the ship?"

"I can't speak to that. The files you unlocked didn't specify much on these goodles."

"Goa'uld," he said slowly so the doctor could understand, but he still didn't fully get the pronunciation.

"I doubt there is just one of them," Beckham said quietly.

"There is nothing else living on this ship for them to inhabit," the Doctor said, missing her point.

The Captain didn't. "We have to tread very carefully here, Commander, but I agree. Our government has been compromised, and we don't know how deep."

"We've been carrying out _their_ orders," she said with disgust. "And there may be more of them at our destination."

"I know nothing of where we are going aside from the coordinates. The Secretary said it was a new colony established off the gate network for security reasons."

"I respectfully suggest that we turn around and head directly back to Earth," she said, letting the implications of that resonate for a moment.

"Earth is a long way from here. We can't wait that long."

"The Secretary was in charge of all offworld assets. We can't trust anyone else out here, not for certain."

"And what if other senior officials also have Goa'uld in them back on Earth?" he challenged her. "We'll be coming back to them with the proof."

The two senior officers' eyes met and the unspoken danger was registered, with the onlooking Doctor oblivious to that bit of the conversation.

"The Americans," she finally said. "They've dealt with this before. Our own security measures are obviously inadequate."

"There's no guarantee they haven't been infiltrated too, but they do have access to better technology and they're a lot closer than Earth. General Carter is headquartered in their Stargate Command at Springfield. She was once infested with a Goa'uld herself. If anyone knows what to do, it'll be her. Once the Americans know, our government can't cover it up no matter how deep the infiltration goes."

"I concur."

"Doctor, no one examines the body until you hear otherwise from me. It is to be kept under guard at all times. No one, including yourself, is to have access to it. Understood?"

"I understand the order, but not the reasoning behind it. Do you think there could still be other aliens onboard?"

"I doubt it, but right now it's our only proof and it cannot be allowed to _disappear_. The Goa'uld could have Human agents working with them."

That thought hadn't occurred to the Doctor, and the implications of that obviously worried him. "The explosion?"

The Captain shook his head. "No. That was an equipment failure. The Secretary dying in the explosion was a fluke, but grim as it is, it was a lucky break for us or we may never have discovered this infiltration. No one touches the body, and no one is left alone with it. Keep three sets of eyes on it at all times. No exceptions."

"Understood," the Doctor said, this time in full agreement.


	5. Chapter 5

Teal'c watched impatiently from his H'tel, still stuck in high orbit around Dakara as the Aschen fleet continued to grow in size. Two more groups of their ships had arrived to add strength to their forces blockading the planet and making it impossible for him to get his ships down to the surface. If he ran them in closer he might be able to get within beaming range, but that would do nothing for the ships themselves. If the planet was going to be attacked directly using the massive fleet above it, he needed his H'tel below them in order to coordinate with Bra'tac. Attacking from the rear against those numbers would be suicide.

Only in a joint fleet action would they stand any chance of survival, which lay heavily invested in keeping the planetary defense weaponry and shields intact. It was those systems that Teal'c needed to help defend, but he was helpless to do so being so far away and on the wrong side of the enemy fleet.

But he could see what was happening, both from his vantage point and the transmissions coming from the planet. The Aschen had fought their way past several cities in order to establish a foothold on the planet, and from that foothold they were beaming down their own mechanized troops. The transmission pads they'd planted there were well guarded and Bra'tac's forces had not been able to destroy them with an overland assault, nor with air power. The H'tel there could not leave the confines of the huge defense shields protecting them and the cities without being fired upon, nor could the Ascend bombard the surface without coming within range of Bra'tac's guns.

If either side made a move to involve their fleets the other would react, leaving the ground battle outside the cities to be determined by their armies.

Bra'tac's troops were meeting them on the plains of Dakara, but the fighting had not gone well…nor had it gone badly. Ground had been lost, but very few troops as his now Alterran Master stalled for time. He had not informed Teal'c as to what that time was for and the First Prime had not specifically inquired, knowing that when he was ready Bra'tac would tell him what he needed to know and suspecting that he was being silent due to the small possibility of their comm signals being monitored.

Right now, all he could do was sit and wait.

Another H'tel came out of hyperspace a quarter of the way around the planet, then diverted to join Teal'c's three ships as it stayed well away from the Aschen fleet.

" _Their fleet has grown_ ," Ishta said with a grim look on her face as her image appeared before Teal'c's command chair.

" _Indeed it has, though the problem remains the same_."

" _Which problem is that?_ "

" _We cannot get to the surface to assist them…and we can do little more than die if we attack the Aschen from the rear, even with the addition of your vessel, though I am glad to see it_."

" _Just it?_ "

" _You as well_ ," he amended. " _How went your assault?_ "

" _Incomplete. We had difficulty at first, requiring considerable delays to set up a proper tactical thrust, but the end result was satisfying. We did not have long to bombard the planet before I received Dakara's request for support. What of you?_ "

" _Also incomplete, though that matters little now. It appears the Aschen are pulling their own reinforcements here as well. I feel they mean to have Dakara no matter what the cost_."

" _Why are they waiting?_ "

" _I do not believe they are confident that they can overwhelm the planetary defenses_."

" _A surface attack?_ "

" _I have been informed that it is possible that with physical contact to the city defense shields a small window could be opened to allow enemy troops inside_."

Ishta frowned heavily. " _We have the technology of the Alterra. How is this possible?_ "

" _Bra'tac feels the Aschen technology is sufficient to the task if given a lengthy opportunity. Our ground forces are going to deny them that opportunity, I assure you._ "

" _The Aschen feel they have a chance and are holding off an orbital assault then?_ "

" _Bra'tac feels we need to stall for time, hence we are sitting here and waiting while the fighting on the surface continues._ "

" _He would not have recalled us without a purpose._ "

" _No, he would not. But he has not divulged any further plans with me_."

Ishna nodded slowly. " _What are your orders, First Prime?_ "

" _Bring your H'tel with mine and we will wait and watch. Patience is not a Jaffa virtue, but it seems we must endeavor to make it one this day_."

" _Well said. I will be with you shortly_ ," she added as the hologram cut out.

Unfortunately one more H'tel wasn't going to be enough to let him punch through the enemy blockade. Even all the H'tel Bra'tac had constructed, if placed alongside Teal'c's flagship, could not engage this Aschen force and survive for more than a few minutes. He had known all along that it would take time to build up the new Jaffa forces. Sadly, the Aschen had not allowed them time to do so before they struck, thus it was up to Bra'tac to find a clever way to deal with this new enemy and Teal'c would be waiting with his small fleet to partake in whatever plan would be forthcoming.

* * *

Bra'tac was not in his audience chamber when the Aschen finally deigned to contact him, thus they had to wait while he was located, but within a few minutes a bust-sized hologram of the Jaffa/Alterra appeared on the enemy ship as he transmitted from a wristbound device held in front of him.

"We are awaiting your surrender," the Aschen said casually.

"To whom am I speaking?" Bra'tac demanded evenly.

"My name is Degon. I represent the Aschen and their interests in this region of the galaxy. You are to stand down your troops, lower your shields, and surrender all small arms."

Bra'tac smiled without any trace of humor. "And if not?"

"I don't see that you have much choice. I am aware that Jaffa often fight to the death, and if that is your wish we will grant it, but there is no need for you to die. The Aschen are not barbarous murders. We seek peaceful coexistence, on our terms, but we do not have any intention of destroying the inhabitants of this planet if you unconditionally surrender to us. You have skills and assets that will be of great value, and in exchange for your assistance we are prepared to make a place for you within the Aschen Confederation."

"A place?"

"We are a Confederation. The word itself should be answer enough."

"So am I to understand that you are attacking us in order to force our joining your union of equals?"

"We are attacking you because you are a threat," Degon stated plainly, with all the emotion of a robot. "We can resolve that threat in more than one way. We do not seek to make the Jaffa slaves, and are well aware that such an approach would not only be unsuccessful but an insult to your history. We are offering a compromise that would allow you to retain your honor."

"And what honor would we have if we affiliated ourselves with a murderous civilization?" Bra'tac said, the steel in his voice more than making up for the Aschen's lack of gravitas.

"We kill when necessary. We are not murderers. And I must say, coming from a Jaffa, your assertions are steeped with hypocrisy given your history serving the Goa'uld."

"And you would have us trade one master for another?"

"A civilized one, yes, operating under a far more equitable system than slavery."

"But still subservient?"

"Within reason, but maintaining a respectful distance, as we do with all Confederation members."

"Do you know who I am?"

"You are the Jaffa known as Bra'tac."

"Do you know what I am?"

"I do not understand your meaning."

"I once was Jaffa…now I am Alterra."

"We have heard rumors of such."

"Do you understand the significance of that?"

"You are allied with a great power located in another galaxy that has been supplying you with technology far beyond what you are accustomed too. The Aschen have long since held a technological superiority and know how to wisely implement it."

"You suggest the Jaffa cannot?"

"What advantages you have over us have not been used wisely. If you forsake your intergalactic masters, we can offer you more than they over the course of time."

"You cannot grasp the depth of how wrong you are."

Degon inclined his head slightly. "Perhaps, perhaps not. There is not a great deal we know of these Alterra. I am sure you could teach us more. The matter at hand remains. You, in your current form, are an enemy of the Aschen. We are offering you a chance to change that before further blood is shed."

"Jaffa do not typically surrender."

"But there are exceptions, I assume."

"No rule is absolute," Bra'tac agreed.

Degon slightly nodded. "Then there is a possibility of common ground here."

"Perhaps there is," Bra'tac allowed. "So I will therefore consider your surrender."

The Aschen frowned, the largest sign of emotion he had shown yet. "I do not find your statement humorous, if that is your intent."

"No?"

"You are horribly outmatched."

"And yet you have not directly attacked our cities. Why, may I ask, is that?"

"We are not here seeking your deaths."

"Considerate of you…and quite insincere."

"I assure you we are not. Our offer is genuine. Surrender now, avoid a costly and potentially devastating loss to the Jaffa, and join with us. We will incorporate you into the Aschen and both will benefit from the merger."

"If you seek our Alterran technologies," Bra'tac said, staring at the Aschen with an even deeper scowl, "then come and claim them."

Degon sighed, slowly shaking his head. "Why must inferior species always insist on bloodshed? We could accomplish so much more with intelligent diplomacy."

"Diplomacy would have began before you landed troops on this world."

"I will grant you that small point, though we felt the Jaffa respond better to actions than words alone."

"And I shall grant you that small point, though you have misinterpreted us if you think that aggression makes us more compliant."

"No, of course not. We seek to instill a sense of inevitable doom. Only when you are assured defeat would you contemplate surrender. Our troops are moving towards your cities, and soon the conquest of Dakara will begin. It may be slow and ponderous, but that will give you time to consider our offer. It will not be rescinded. So long as you are still alive, you may consider it still in play."

"You have to get past my warriors first."

"And we are currently doing that. If you wish to wait to find out whether or not we can breach your shields I will allow for that. Though Aschen speak the truth as a matter of practice, I understand that others are accustomed to lies and deceit in negotiations. We will breach your shields, and when that happens you will see that we are true to our word. We will speak again then."

The Aschen hologram disappeared and Bra'tac dropped his wrist as he looked at the Jaffa around him who were also listening to the conversation.

" _They are not so confident of their victory as they claim_ ," the First of the System Lords explained. " _It is far easier to talk than it is to fight, and I get the feeling these Aschen are accustomed to intimidating opponents into capitulation rather than having to earn their conquests. They are stupid if they believe that will work on Jaffa_ ," he said with disdain. " _They will try a ground assault first. If it fails they will commence attack from orbit. They cannot allow Dakara to stand now that they are here. We are too great a threat and must be eliminated_ ," he said as another Alterra walked up behind the group.

The Jaffa noticed his approach and made way for Paul Stevenson, who had been with them on Dakara since the beginning acting as their 'masterbuilder' and teaching them and Bra'tac more secrets of Alterran technology.

" _How much time do we have?_ " he asked Bra'tac.

" _Fear of our defenses forces the Aschen into a ground assault that will be unsuccessful, but we can draw it out for some time before they realize that fact. At which point I believe they will begin their full attack. The Aschen I spoke with is not a fool, but very ignorant to the ways of battle. He is used to winning and uncertain how to proceed. First he is cautious and frugal, then when that fails I believe he will reverse himself and mount a frontal assault with every ship he possesses. We have until then to find an alternative path_."

Paul nodded. " _We're getting closer, but we need more data transmitted_."

" _Then you shall have it_ ," Bra'tac said, readjusting his wristbound communicator to contact Teal'c's flagship.

w w w . aerkijyr . c o m


End file.
